Hello to all
Long time lurker of these boards, I'm from Scotland and have a keen interest in philosophical and spiritual debate, likely inspired by my enjoyment of recreational herbs (really need to sort that out with some niacin and saunas, anyone got a spare £30000, or enough oatee magic spare to postulate some metaphorical funds into my account? :wink2
Fortunately I have never been directly involved with Scientology (except recently at protests in my home city) but after seeing disturbing footage on YouTube and realising they were already in my country I have spent a lot of time researching documents and videos and lurking forums. After reading this entire thread (thoroughly entertaining and informative btw) I thought I'd finally make an account and join future discussions to offer another fully "wog" pov to the mix. I have a tendency to ramble, must be those damn bt's chiming in and throwing me off, so I'll wind things up for now with a couple of my thoughts on subjects discussed:
I don't possibly see how incident 2 can be a metaphor by proper definition
Definition of a metaphor:
1. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “a sea of troubles” or “All the world's a stage” (Shakespeare).
2. One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol: “Hollywood has always been an irresistible, prefabricated metaphor for the crass, the materialistic, the shallow, and the craven” (Neal Gabler).
Examples of metaphors
Life is a journey, purposes are destinations, means are routes, difficulties are obstacles, counselors are guides, achievements are landmarks, choices are crossroads.. Co$ is a mosquito on the arse of humanity (bloodsucking unwanted, nuisance so devoid of usefulness that eradication wouldn't have any true negative impact on the rest of the world)
The xenu incident is a long winded account, with lots of detail, put forward by its author as absolute truth. The following auditing processes directly reference the locations, times and events described within. So if it IS a metaphor what exactly is it supposed to be representing? Are the metaphor purporting crowd simply saying they believe in bts but not the incident so because Ron's tale could hypothetically explain the phenomena it must be a metaphor for the "true story?" If so could they enlighten us what they believe to be the truth behind the metaphor? (its hardly a metaphor if you can't explain what it metaphorically represents!)
If the only "truth" in ot3 is that bts exist and ridding oneself of them is nice then what is the difference between already established hypothesis about excorcism etc? Or to put it another way there is nothing unique about rons theory (like most of his garble it is just stolen from elsewhere and maximised for profitability, christian exorcism happens waaay less often and the main difference is it is only performed when requested and when someone is in distress of some kind, just a coincidence that Rons alteration involves much more time spent doing it, much more cost to the recipient and most importantly the theory that EVERYONE needs it regardless of if they feel fine!) And if bts exist, but incident 2 didn't, yet somehow running the process (based on a made up story) works then why the need for the bridge etc, just start running the process straight away, or make up your own! If inc 2 isn't real but works who is to say the above hilarious ladder, cat etc method won't work too? Maybe even better!
A question to the metaphor believers, is all space opera a "metaphor" (non pr translation: LIE) or just xenu? Because if it isn't all metaphor it seems a bit odd to believe all that rubbish but not xenu and if it is all metaphor then there is nothing left to Scientology expect confessing sins in the vague hope you will feel happier (sounds like Catholicism!)
Phew told you in ramble, had a lot of that going round my head and needed to blow the charge though
Final thought for now, in my opinion saying xenu is a metaphor but ot3 works is like saying you are a Catholic who believes Jesus is a metaphor but you can feel communion clearing your sins and you can taste the blood and flesh of Christ in the wafer and wine!
Apologies for overly long post and many thanks to all on the boards (even those I disagree with, without argument and debate life is vanilla) for the knowledge and laughs I have gained from reading this forum.